I was never a big fan of Ross or Rachel. Their characters tended to annoy me and their relationship took away valuable time from Monica’s cleaning & Chandler’s wisecracking. But this was my most favorite scenes between them.

I have talked before on my blog about how the Seavers from Growing Pains were like my family. I wanted to live in their house and be one of them. Well, maybe be adopted by them, since otherwise I would have had lustful thoughts about my brothers.

But in the same way that I felt the Seavers were my family, that is how Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross felt like my friends. I invited them into my living room every Thursday night for 10 years. They were in my house every night for an hour when they went into syndication. I shared in their trials and tribulations. They WERE my friends in my head and heart, if not by the standard definition.

I was sooo devastated when Friends concluded. I cried for like an hour after the finale ended. Within the same week, a DVD of the Series Finale hit stores, and I bought it. I watched it over and over. As series finales go, it was a perfect ending.

My favorite shot of a surprised Chandler from the Friends series finalePhoto: Warner Bros.

I actually filled the void left by Friends with Fox’s The O.C. While I didn’t necessarily wish to live amongst them, I was obsessed with their lives in a similar way. Therefore, when The O.C. ended in 2007, I not only cried for The O.C., but I cried for Friends (again, still) as well.

I have only added one new TV show to my all-time favorite list in the years since then, the short-lived FX show Terriers, starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James.

It somehow makes it even harder when you realize that Friends started 20 years ago in 1994, the same year I graduated high school. My WHOLE ADULT LIFE I have known these characters.

I can’t believe it is really 10 years later, and I still haven’t found a way to say goodbye. Maybe if I could meet Matthew Perry someday, that would help…